Monday, November 10, 2008

I'm back! I have survived the the mammoth revisions of the grown-up book and can say no more about the experience because it's too traumatising. I've also been doing a ton of magazine-y stuff, which I'll let you know about as and when it's out - though actually I think I have a piece in the new Grazia out tomorrow. But I feel liberated from the yoke of rewriting and can go out now and be social. I also need to get back to the new teen novel, which I cruelly abandoned and I'm looking forward to re-reading the first few chapters, then diving back in.

By the way, I dimly recall a couple of people asking me questions about writing stuff. Namely, how long a book should be? Well, it's actually NaNoWriMo (National Write A Novel In A Month) and their rules state that a novel is 75,000 words, but I tend to way over write. Even turning in a teen book under 100,000 words is an effort and the adult book is currently 175,000 words but that's just me! It really depends on doing your chapter outline and writing as many words as you need to tell your story.

Someone also asked me what font or typeface I write in. I tend to go for something quite plain and unfiddly like Geneva or Helvetica, though I do have a soft spot for the old skool Courier too.

In other news, I think a list of my current popular culture faves is long overdue:

I'm currently listening to

Hello Saferide - More Modern Short Stories From...

I had to order this from Sweden but I got a signed copy so that was rather neat, but it is available on iTunes. I love the title of this album as I always think of her songs as like mini novellas. She manages to say in three verses and a chorus what it takes me a whole book to do. My favourite tracks are X Telling Me About the Loss Of Something Dear, At Age 16, which is about a girl losing her virginity and closing her eyes and thinking of dancers. Then there's I Wonder Who Is Like This One, which is about how people are like songs and the people who are like God Only Knows are keepers. (I wish I was a God Only Knows Person.) I also like Lund, which is another snippet into the mind of a teenage girl singing about two brothers who come to visit her and look down on her because "I was too young, not interesting at all" and I linked to the single, Anna on my last post. I really do love Hello Saferide and if and when they play London, I will be there with knobs on, possibly singing along and crying at the same times.

The Priscillas - 10,000 Volts

This is my friend Kate's band so I have a special advance copy of their new album, which is really rather shockingly good. The next single is All The Way To Holloway, which I can appreciate being North London born and bred and just so you know, Amy Winehouse totally stole their look and now they've had to retire their beehives.

Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue

Not loving it quite so much as Rabbit Fur Coat, but I think it's a grower.

I'm currently reading

Or rather I've just read an out-of-print Virgao Modern Classic, The Brontes Went To Woolworths by Rachel Ferguson, a story about a rock 'n' roll band and kidnapping kangaroos and a complaint call centre called You Don't Love Me Yet by Jonathan Lethem and have just started Jay McInerney's Brightness Falls. But I also read The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy, which I recced on my summer reading lists. Did anyone else read it? Did you love it as much as I did>

I'm currently watching

Lots of things, all American, which I acquire by illegal means so probably best not to discuss them here.

I'm currently wasting time

Playing far too much Scramble on Facebook. I think I need a 12-step programme.

So, that's about it for now. I promise to update much more regularly from now on, unless I have more copious novel revisions in my very near future.

This is the official blog of Sarra Manning, writer of Guitar Girl, Pretty Things, Let's Get Lost. the Fashionistas series, Nobody's Girl and the Diary Of A Crush trilogy. Also, Unsticky, Sarra's first novel for grown-up girls.
This blog will have regular postings from Sarra, answers to your questions, sneak previews of her forthcoming projects, competitions and a lot of ranting and raving about her current obsessions from Glee to obscure female Swedish singers and everything in between.

Le temps sont durs pour le rêveurs...

I write tawdry teen fiction and articles about fashion, celebrity and zeitgeisty trends. I wear Old Navy, Dorothy Perkins and Marc Jacobs. I was born 50 years too late and 50 years too soon. I have a rich, inner life. I live in London and on my wits. And I'm softer than my face would suggest...
But there are some things you need to know about me:
1. There will never be any more books in the Diary Of A Crush trilogy. READ THE DIARY OF A CRUSH LABELS BELOW TO FIND OUT WHY!
2. I can't reply to your messages if you don't have an active blogspot so I can leave comments.
3. My blog has all my latest news, including book releases. Also there are writing tips ALSO LABELLED BELOW!
4. If you're doing a book report, then Google is your friend. Just search my name. On the first page of your search, you will find pretty much everything you need.
Hope I don't sound too cranky, but as well as the book-writing, I'm a jobbing journalist and I hate to have a backlog of unanswered emails.